 Thanks to all who joined us yesterday at Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in Boston, and on Facebook Live around the world.
Even though the Patriots were kicking off just as we began screening the film, we still had a rapt crowd of 50 or so supporters of the Ukrainian cause, seeing the film for the first time with great food provided by the parish. For those that did not attend, we are making the standard definition version of the film available at no charge for the next week. Just click on the Vimeo link at: https://vimeo.com/748323484 by Sunday the 18th of September. For those that have seen the film, please fill out the short survey we have set up. Just go to Trek to Bucha Feedback Survey (theoeco.org). Lastly, I was greatly humbled by the outpouring of generosity for the event both in person and online with well over a thousand dollars raised so far. Thank YOU! I hope that witnessing the stories of those in the film will inform viewers as to what Ukrainians on the front lines have gone through – and will face going forward. This film shows what’s at stake for ordinary people that happen to live too close to Russia. Homeowners and businesses could use international support from insurance companies and banks, that in return can use guarantees from international monetary authorities and governments. Ukrainians can use not just guns but a bit of butter too. What's next for Trek to Bucha? Captions, and a 57-minute version. And a tour to promote the film both in the USA and Europe is in the works – Back to Bucha! And Warsaw. Lviv, Kyiv, and Irpin. We’ll also be reaching out to those constituencies featured in the film for their support. Ideally, we can shore up support for Ukraine as Europe moves into a difficult winter with energy supply cutoffs from Putin testing their resolve. We can’t do it without you. Thanks again, Steve Richards at stever@TheoEco.org. Слава Україні! Glory to Ukraine!
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 Join us on Facebook Live from Boston on 9/11
We will livestream the premiere event on Facebook Live with the hope that our friends — and stars of the film — in Lviv, Kyiv, and Bucha can be part of it. The premiere screening takes place on Sunday, September 11, 2022, at 12:30 PM EDT (7:30 PM Bucha time) from Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in Boston. We’ll be broadcasting the entire event, including the screening of the film and a Q&A afterward with the director, other members of the team, and hopefully some of the film’s stars — live from Boston, Lviv, Kyiv, and Bucha. Just go to facebook.com/TheoEcoOrg on 9/11 and click on the Facebook Live link you'll find there. Слава Україні! Glory to Ukraine!  Thomas Paine was a founding father whose contributions were philosophical, literary, revolutionary. What might he say about the Ukrainian fight for liberty? O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Ever since the Russian invasion, I am constantly struck by the apparent shared sentiments of Ukrainians today with Americans’ fight for liberty in 1775. Thomas Paine was a founding father who never held office, didn’t sign founding documents, nor has his image on any currency. His contributions were philosophical, literary, revolutionary. What might he say about the Ukrainian fight for liberty? Unsurprisingly the Enlightenment principles that imbued our founding fathers shout loudly from Common Sense, perhaps the biggest seller proportionally of all American publications, first pressed in Philadelphia in February 1776. Common Sense was read by, or read to, just about every citizen in the colonies at exactly the time they were deciding whether to declare independence from England. The Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, persuaded the British Army it was better to stay in Boston proper rather than attempt military incursions doomed to fail. Sound familiar? Massachusetts was at war and times were tough. George Washington was waiting for artillery on a slow march from Fort Ticonderoga through Massachusetts to be delivered by Benedict Arnold to Dorchester Heights. When installed the cannons represented “checkmate” and the British withdrew on March 17, 1776 (Boston Battle Facts and Summary | American Battlefield Trust (battlefields.org). Common Sense was written at this time and Paine talks about the misery Bostonians endured when America found itself in a situation not unlike Ukraine today; in the early days of a war for their liberty from a seemingly overwhelming foe that is intent upon denying that freedom. Common roots give the bully justification – superior size and arms make it doable. Or so they thought. And like America, Ukraine will prevail. It doesn’t take much to bring Paine’s words to life and see their applicability. Just insert Russia for England, Ukraine for America, Putin/autocrat for the king, autocracy for monarchy, and so on. The fact is that his words apply to any country today that is fighting against wanna-be tyrants. Take a look. "The cause of Ukraine is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested. That Putin is not to be trusted without being looked after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural disease of autocracy. There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of an autocrat; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of an autocrat shuts him from the world, yet the business of an autocrat requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business there is for an autocrat. Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. But Russia is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by Putin and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not Russia, is the parent country of Ukraine. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and still can shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. But Russia is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by Putin and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not Russia, is the parent country of Ukraine. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and still can shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.  It's a fight that continues on through the Ukrainian people who share the DNA of Europe and the Enlightenment principals we all share. Russia and Putin play the role of the tyrant autocrat some 250 years since America had to beat their English tyrant to form the so-called American Experiment. Similarly, Ukraine has to defeat Russia now to form its Ukrainian Experiment some 31+ years in the making.
TheoEco Institute is celebrating its seven-year anniversary this month.  TheoEco was incorporated on August 10, 2015 when then 15-year-old daughter Bobbie and I were getting ready to head to Nepal to help with the earthquake recovery effort. We weren’t exactly sure how but thanks to the introductions to Rev. Shyam Nepali, his son Amit, and the rest of their family/Christian community there, we figured it out.  With Amit editing, writing music, guiding, and translating we could document what was going on. And that’s what we are doing still. He, like Bobbie, is also a director of the company.  The three of us have teamed up on every project since including five (or six?) documentaries (and related posts) from earthquake relief to climate change, from guns to Ukraine. In the end though it is always about economic and environmental (human made as well) entanglements we find urgent.  And a Quixotic hopefulness that keeps us thinking we might change the world just a bit.  Not that seven is a particularly momentous number but we couldn’t do it on number five because of COVID. I can remember Bobbie and me in Kathmandu filming Piles of Bricks (Revisited) for release on the fifth anniversary of the earthquakes in 2020. There was this ongoing story in the Kathmandu press about this new virus in a place named Wuhan just over the Himalayas to the north. That film was the earliest victim of the pandemic for TheoEco.  The next TheoEco COVID victim was So Flo Floods which had just premiered and being screened across South Florida when the virus struck. We had just finished a 57-minute version and were planning a big splash at Miami Beach Senior High for the winner of our So Floods Essay Competition. Alas, it went virtual, as all things did as we still tried to get our arms around what the virus meant. I still remember naively thinking that we might still be able to hold the screenings we were booking in the summer of 2020. It was then a question of survival for TheoEco. But survive we have. And it is now time to thrive!  First and foremost, right now is Trek to Bucha. We are finishing the film and beginning its promotion at our Boston premiere on 9/11. It is imperative that we get this film out and seen by as many folks as possible in as expedited a distribution model as we can. People throughout the world need to see these stories now, so say the Ukrainian leaders I speak with like Fr. Yaroslav at Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in Boston (pictured) to remind people what is going on and why our support is so important. We are holding a fundraising campaign through September 30th to raise $23,000 - the final third of Trek to Bucha’s $68,000 budget. We need funds specifically for PBS News Hour footage we plan to include, music rights and mixing, further editing, promoting, etc. For more about the budget click here. Join us and support TheoEco and Ukraine.
We are raising funds to help cover the remaining $23,000 estimated price tag of Trek to Bucha’s post-production and initial promotional costs. Won’t you help? Help us finish Trek to Bucha, assist Ukraine, and propel TheoEco into its next seven years. It’s easy. Just click on the "Donate Now" button below. You’ll find a variety of donation levels each with a range of reward packages including credits in the film! We promise every dollar will be put to good use. And please plan to join us on September 11th either in person or virtually. For more information click here. 
As we continue to edit Trek to Bucha in anticipation of its September 11th premiere at Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jamaica Plain, we are very pleased to announce that we will be allocating half the proceeds from our Boston premiere to Ukraine Forward — an initiative of Ukraine American Education Center of Boston, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that raises money to ship medical and other supplies to Ukraine. 50% of all proceeds from the premiere screening on September 11th will be shared with Ukraine Forward.
As the war continues, needs in Ukraine continue unabated. Ukraine Forward is in direct contact with doctors and volunteers in Ukraine and receives letters of request from:
Their challenges and needs include:
Ukraine Forward has received lots of press coverage from WBUR, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, and others.
For more about the organization and its efforts check out their deck by clicking here. You can also check out their website at UkraineForward.org.
Ukraine Forward as seen in Trek to Bucha.
Before we became aware of Ukraine Forward we were showcasing them in the film via Father Yaroslav and his church. At the very beginning of the film’s trailer, we see him taking us into the parish house and the volunteers in action. https://vimeo.com/709512914.
Later on, we see where the supplies go – to the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv where we interview and see students distributing supplies from all over the world. Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv (theoeco.org
In the end, Trek to Bucha’s hoped-for impact is an ongoing awareness of the Ukrainian people’s plight for as long as Putin’s terroristic war continues – and beyond through the rebuilding period. In addition to awareness, we hope the film will help bring much-needed resources to the people and front lines. This is a long-term effort and our support for organizations like Ukraine Forward is just getting started. Therefore, we are sharing 50% of all Trek to Bucha proceeds with Ukrainian causes and organizations; a commitment we are making with our online fundraising tools which allow us to track - and report - every dollar.
So please, donate what you can. We promise every dollar will be put to good use. And please plan to join us on September 11th either in person or virtually. For more information click here. Thank you. Слава Україні! Glory to Ukraine!  We are pleased to unveil the Trek to Bucha feature documentary poster today.
A film’s poster is one of the most important items on its promotional calendar as it is the cover that just about everybody judges a film by (before they see it anyway). It needs to tell the story of the film in a visual with as few words as possible. It can make a difference. Producer Bobbie Richards finally decided on the photo after considering all the stills that were brought back from Ukraine in late April. Turns out it was the same photo that we have been using as a placeholder in our website and marketing. Why this shot? Because most people associate Bucha with devastation, heavy fighting, and atrocities – all true. However, Bucha is also associated with victory – and most importantly, defeat of Russian armor. So, this shot of destroyed Russian armored personnel carriers sitting in a Bucha junk yard encapsulates how we see the story. One of hope for Ukrainians and their allies. One of victory for Ukraine. We hope you like it.  I am happy to announce that we will be premiering Trek to Bucha in Boston at the place where it all began, Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jamaica Plain on September 11th, at 12:30 PM. The film is currently in post-production.   Our film began at Christ the King back in March when I went to the church at the suggestion of the salesclerk at REI in Boston where I was getting outfitted with a new backpack and other gear for my forthcoming trip to Ukraine. When I told the clerk where I was headed, he told me about the church at the center of raising supplies for Ukraine in Boston (See Mass. Ukrainians send money, tactical medicine to battlefield back home | WBUR News). Being unfamiliar with the Ukrainian Catholic Church I just had to go to Jamaica Plain and find out more. It was there that I met Father Yaroslav and told him about my upcoming trek, which at the time was going to be confined to the western part of the country. He spent time with me and told me about his time as a soviet army doctor while attending seminary underground, a path that could have meant his death if discovered by the Red Army command as the UCC was outlawed under the soviet regime. (See Announcing TheoEco's Ukraine Trek). After reassuring Fr. Yaroslav that I was committed to going - and of right mind - he encouraged me to go to the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. I wound up spending several days there as the Russians retreated from Kyiv thereby opening up the possibility for me to go to Kyiv and eventually Bucha. I was able to interview students and faculty alike there, as well as learn about air raid sirens in the school’s basement/bunker. (See Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv (theoeco.org). He also called down a guardian angel and gave me his blessing to help me through the journey. He apparently has a lot of pull with The Spirit as I made it through without a scratch. I went to see Fr. Yaroslav a couple weeks ago while in Boston and told him of my idea to hold the premiere screening at the church. He couldn’t have been more receptive to the idea as he expressed in his follow up email to me last week, which I just have to share: Слава Ісусу Христу! Glory to Jesus Christ! "We will be honored to have the premiere of your documentary film about Ukraine in our parish in September. "Thank you again for your brave effort and personal commitment to produce the documentary film about the war in Ukraine. Your documentary film will be part of the recorded history about the sacrifice and heroism of the Ukrainian people in defending their freedom, dignity, and sovereignty. Fr. Yaroslav and Parishioners of Christ the King UCC So, stay tuned as we put our premiere event together to support Ukraine in as many ways as possible. I am very excited and honored to have this show of support for our film and efforts to bring awareness to what is happening there.
It is an epic struggle that is being fought for freedom loving people everywhere. And what better place to premiere the film than a church in Boston where America’s war for Independence took root almost 250 years ago. Thanks, Steve Richards
Be part of Trek to Bucha!
Can you feel it? Fatigue of the war in Ukraine has already begun to creep in with surging gas and food prices blamed on the unending war. The refrain goes something like this: Can’t we just let Putin have his way and get back to the way things were?
But it’s far more than economics at stake in Ukraine. “Live Free or Die” is the New Hampshire state motto which all Americans understand in their bones. It is what the war in Ukraine is really all about. Ukrainians don’t want to live like Russians. They want to live like us - and have grown used to it since their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. They will not let the Russians take it away from them. And they will be great partners in an even stronger Free World currently under attack by Putin. Ukraine must come out of this conflict all the stronger for it. Which is why I am coming to you. We need about 29k to finish Trek to Bucha in a way that will make it attractive for outlets like PBS, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and others to put on their platforms for worldwide audiences. (Check out our budget at Budget and Timeline) Specifically, we are raising funds to help cover Trek to Bucha's post-production costs. We have already covered the 39k pre-production and production expenses which were incurred during our shoots in Ukraine throughout March/April 2022 (See Trek to Bucha - Synopsis). We also have a rough-cut trailer ready to go! Now we need to cover the costs of editing, graphics, and other elements to make the film as engaging and entertaining as possible. I’d like to invite you to join us and our partners to create this new and potentially important feature documentary which we are planning to premiere the week of August 10th in Boston. Whether you are a potential sponsor, donor, institution, or a friend with a few bucks to spare, please go to our website at Trek to Bucha - Fundraising to learn more. You might also want to check out our pdf file Trek to Bucha – Deck for a quick overview of what we are to. Collectively we can make a difference and remind those in Ukraine they are not alone as we stand with them. And, as always, thanks for your continued support. Steve R. Steve Richards, Managing Director
For more check out this message from Steve Richards recorded in Bucha...
To donate click here. For more information and/or to become a sponsor please reach out to Steve Richards at SteveR@TheoEco.org. By Steve Richards   Memorial Day is about commemorating our fallen American fighters. In this it seems an occasion to consider the Ukrainian soldiers that have died and are dying each day. American soldiers are fighting alongside them. In many ways, this is America’s war as well. So, it seems fitting to reach back to the days when the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord fought for the exact same reasons Ukrainians are fighting today. Liberty. Freedom. Sounds sort of corny because we take it for granted here. We are taught in grade school about the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, etc. But for most of us that’s as far as it goes. History books and movies. Ukraine is a real-life reminder of what our forefathers died for on Lexington Green in 1775. Love of freedom is a universal human sentiment that Phillis Wheatly spoke of when she wrote in 1774:
Of course, Phillis was a slave, a Boston slave, so she spoke from a point of view far different than those first Americans that died for their country on the Green. But the sentiment is the same. It’s in our DNA apparently. And it certainly is present in all that I met on my trek to Bucha and comes through in every interview.
The people dying and fighting and surviving in Ukraine are just like us in their love of freedom and their willingness to die for it. It’s not complicated. Turns out phrases like ‘Live Free or Die’, ‘Freedoms not Free’, and ‘Russian warship, go fuck yourself!’ are all born of the same zeal for freedom and the willingness to die for it. When I get involved in a project like Trek to Bucha, I have a mind to do something that is too big for me to have much of an impact. The War in Ukraine is just this kind of quixotic endeavor. What can one guy do? Not much. But one guy with a camera and the ability to produce an engaging documentary? Well, that’s a force multiplier. Because the uniquely powerful footage I shot has the potential to move millions given the worldwide interest in the war and awareness of what happened in Bucha. We have the potential to improve the situation in Ukraine, and ourselves. Because what is happening in Ukraine directly affects us throughout the world. I came away from my month in Ukraine with a deep appreciation that its citizens will need more than just guns and ammunition. They will need loans to rebuild their homes and help rebuilding their economy. The people of Ukraine are not just fighting for their freedom. Through hard work, love of family and home, the rule of law, and liberty, they are fighting for the fruits of democracy and laissez-faire capitalism. Our film and other TheoEco efforts will hopefully influence policy that will further these goals. Lastly, all of those I interviewed echoed the sentiment of thanks for our support of Ukraine and for bringing awareness of what’s happening there. Perhaps in the end, this is the greatest impact this film can have, to pass their message along. But I hope the film will help Ukraine strengthen and in so doing push back against Putin’s threat to so much of what we hold dear. Hopefully, this film can engage the sentiments of viewers to continue supporting Ukraine in its struggles against Putin’s Russia. Think of Ukraine’s soldiers and citizens this Memorial Day. Think of them and their cause and what our forefathers had to suffer through beginning in our struggle against a seemingly overwhelming armed force in 1775 when paying a bit more at the pump. And as we commemorate centuries of heroes in America, God bless our Ukrainian brothers in arms dying for our freedoms as well. A new feature length documentary currently in post-production for completion July 2022. One month into Russia’s war on Ukraine, guerilla documentarian Steve Richards began an odyssey to document what was happening in the Western suburbs of Kyiv. The resulting footage provides deep dives into the stories, people, places, and situations resulting from the war few thought would happen. Regular people just like us enduring air raid sirens, missile strikes, lost jobs, destroyed homes, and unfathomable atrocities being waged around them. All because they demand the liberties most of us take for granted. From Warsaw, to Lviv, to Kyiv, to Bucha, we get a real look at what’s really happening, almost like being there in person. Richards documented what he found, with a 14-part video blog, which we are told is more riveting than network news broadcasts. All interviews were conducted in English since many in Ukraine speak it well. We hope this makes the film all the more accessible for those in the USA and other English speakers. Much is being asked of people in the west including political, economic, and military support for Ukraine. Especially in terms of higher food and gas prices, and the billions in aid that will need to continue to keep up the fight. A global fight we are winning. We hope this production will help further this moral and real support that is so vital - and to let Ukrainians know that America stands by them. They are not alone. Because they are in the same position America’s Minutemen were some 250 years ago when the first shots at Lexington and Concord changed the world. Back when Phillis Wheatley, America’s first ever published black author, wrote in 1774: In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance. Again, the people in the film are just like us. We “get” these folks. This production and cause are dedicated to them, their struggles, and the inspiration they are providing the rest of us. Glory to Ukraine! |
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TheoEco Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to TheoEco in the United States are tax exempt to the extent provided by law.